Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Dwolla Makes it Easy to Pay for School Lunches Online

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Dwolla

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Alternative payment system Dwolla announced on Friday it has partnered with a school district in Iowa to enable online payments for school lunches.

After signing up for Dwolla, parents and guardians withDwollaSchoolLunch2.jpgchildren attending Iowa schools in the Beaman, Conrad, Liscomb, Union, and Whitten (BCLUW) district can pay for lunches online on a weekly, bimonthly, or monthly basis.

There is no transaction cost for parents, and because Dwolla only charges 25 cents for payments over $10, it can save schools a significant amount of money on credit and debit card fees.

According to the blog post, Dwolla is seeking additional partnerships with school districts.

To learn more about Dwolla, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.

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Monitise Appoints Brad Petzer as New CFO, Executive Director

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Monitise

MonitiseLogo2.jpg

Mobile banking solutions company, Monitise, announced the appointment of a new CFO and Executive Director today.

The company has selected Brad Petzer (pictured) to replace John Brougham after his MonitisePetzer.jpgretirement in October of last year. Petzer will take up the position of CFO in April of 2013.

Prior to accepting the role as CFO, Petzer served as Group Financial Controller at Europe-based Telecity Group.

Monitise demoed at Finovate 2007.

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Finovate Alumni News– January 4, 2013

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Andera, Comarch, CR2, Fiserv, Jwaala, Kashoo, Klarna, Monitise, Nomis Solutions, Pageonce, SaveUp
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBremer Bank to implement Fiserv’s mobile banking and payment technology.
  • Boeing Helicopters Credit Union moves to Andera’s oFlows for online account opening.
  • SaveUp launches a no spend challenge: a financial detox.
  • Pageonce featured in Gentle9.com’s Top 10 Apps of the week.
  • Jwaala helps Michigan First Credit Union improve remote deposit capture services.
  • The Swedish Wire lists Klarna as one of Sweden’s more popular employers among young professionals. 
  • Nomis Solutions announces Global Pricing Forum in April.
  • Monitise appoints Brad Petzer as new CFO, Executive Director.
  • Alior Bank to deploy Comarch Smart Finance.
  • AllAfrica.com interviews CR2 CEO, Martin Dolan about Nigeria’s Cashless Lagos Project.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Clover Raises $3.3 Million From Undisclosed Investors

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Clover Network

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Last month, point of sale payment system, Clover, filed an SEC form indicating it raised $3.3 million for its cloud-based POS system. VentureBeat first picked up the story on Thursday.

The investors in this round have not yet been disclosed.

This new round, combined with last March’s installment of $5.8 million from Andreessen Horowitz and Sutter Hill Ventures, brings the California-based company’s total funding up to almost $10 million.

To learn more about Clover, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.

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Tuition.io Exits Private Beta, Aims to Make Student Loan Management Easier

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Tuition.io

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Student loan repayment platform, Tuition.io, launched to the public today.

During a four month private beta period, the 

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SantaMonica-based startup helped 1,500 users from more than 130 different universities manage a combined $100 million in debt from 10,000 student loans.

Along with the public beta, Tuition.io introduced EasyOptimize, a feature that suggests products to help users pay off their loans faster.

It also announced two partners to help build an audience for the platform:

    • Student Veterans of America
    • OurTime.org

According to PandoDaily, additional high-profile partnerships are in the works.

To learn more about Tuition.io, watch its FinovateFall 2012 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– January 2, 2013

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Andera, Banno, Betterment, Billhighway, Dwolla, Dynamics, Entrepreneurial Finance Lab, Expensify, Experian, Flint Mobile, Geezeo, Ixaris, Locaid, Mint.com, MoneyDesktop, Pageonce, PayPal, PlayMoolah, smartcredit.com, Sports Lever, TSYS, WattzOn, Wonga, Yodlee
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAmerican Banker features Banno CEO Wade Arnold, calling him a “coder in the cornfields.”
  • American Banker names PayPal and Wonga 2 of 8 non-banks to watch in 2013.
  • Mint.com encourages users to add goals by holding $500 sweepstakes.
  • Deccan Herlad examines Yodlee’s plan to move into India.
  • Forbes considers the best job titles of 2012: Min Xuan Lee, PlayMoolah’s Princess of Possibility named #1.
  • MoneyDesktop to power Cubus Solutions’ online banking services.
  • Geezeo to power Wings Financial PFM.
  • Billion Success blog interviews David Barrett, Expensify CEO.
  • OneDayGlobal blog profiles Entrepreneurial Finance Lab.
  • Silicon Prairie reports: Dwolla-powered Koala Pay aims to help merchants, customers connect.
  • Andera adds Gesa CU & Central Star CU for online account opening, loan applications.
  • Marketing Technology Blog highlights Flint Mobile and its camera-based payment processing system.
  • Ixaris completes move to new offices in San Gwann.
  • TSYS announces ProPay acquisition now complete.
  • Experian is offering a searchable consumer credit database.
  • Locaid Technologies wins FastPitch competition at Locations & Beyond Summit 2012.
  • Billhighway provides mobile donation services for Make A Difference animal rescue event.
  • Huffington Post features WattzOn among its best apps for tracking home energy use.
  • The Tennessean takes a look at the rebranding of Portfolio Football as Sports Lever.
  • LifeHacker quotes SmartCredit.com president of consumer education on credit and credit scores.
  • Betterment and PageOnce earn spots in TechCrunch’s feature: “7 Apps That Will Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions Alive”.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Planwise Releases First Mobile App

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: planwise

Thumbnail image for planwiseLogo1.jpg

PFM platform planwise recently launched an iPad app; its first move into the mobile environment. We tested it out earlier this week.

Our favorites

1) Simplicity of the money in, money out structure
Planwise doesn’t aggregate financial data, so users need to manually enter their financial information. Fortunately, the San Francisco-based startup keeps things simple by limiting input to three items: income, expenses, and debt.
2) Adjustable plans feature
When the user creates a plan, like going on vacation or buying a car, the cash projection is automatically lowered or raised to reflect the impact (see below). We like how easy it is to turn on or off different plans because it allows the user to test multiple “what if” scenarios.
pwiseiPadPlans.jpg
Noteworthy elements

1) Products
Planwise has partnered with Perkstreet Financial to provide users with debit card offers. Here’s what our offer looked like:
pwiseiPadOffer.jpg
And here’s how the offers are calculated:
 

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2) Alerts
This section contains both positive and negative alerts in the following categories:
    • Critical
    • Warning
    • Suggested action
    • Plan
    • Upcoming events
    • Products/ service
    • Statistics
    • Celebration
Here are some alerts we received
pwiseiPadAppAlerts.jpg
To learn more about planwise, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

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Tagit Platform Now Available to 120 Million Mobile Users Through Smartlink Deployment

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Tagit

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Asia-based mobile banking solutions provider, Tagit, recently announced the launch of its first aggregated mobile banking service with Smartlink, a payment switch operator.

When Smartlink deploys mobile services with its Vitenam-based member banks, they will deploy Tagit’s Mobeix platform to more than 40 million cardholders and 120 million mobile users.

Introducing this aggregated service will help Tagit expand its userbase and presence throughout Asia. Vietcombank, Smartlink’s largest member bank, is the first bank to launch Tagit’s mobile banking service.

To learn more about Tagit, watch its FinovateAsia 2012 demo.

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Manilla Introduces Custom Accounts

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Manilla

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Last week online organization platform, Manilla, notified me that I can now create custom accounts for services that do not support online payment systems such as rent, babysitters, gym memberships and dog walkers (see email below).

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To get started, log into the Manilla accounts dashboard and select create a custom account.

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After selecting the account type and assigning it a name, enter due date, amount due, and frequency. Just like with Manilla’s traditional accounts, users may also create email and SMS reminders.

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Once saved, the new account appears alongside the others.

New York-based Manilla stated users have requested this for quite some time now, so it is rolling out the feature in time to help consumers organize for the new year.

To learn more about Manilla, watch its FinovateFall 2012 demo.

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SecondMarket and AngelList Team Up to Enable Micro-Venture Investing for Members

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Uncategorized

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Yesterday the secondary trading market for private companies, SecondMarket, announced it partnered with AngelList to allow qualified investors to participate in micro-venture investing, or investing small amounts in early stage startups.

According to Barry Silbert, SecondMarket CEO, accredited investors will be able to invest in early stage technology startups in fields such as:

    • Finance
    • Education
    • Science
    • Advertising

The diverse range of startups, combined with the small dollar amount that the platforms require, will enable investors to better diversify their portfolio.

SecondMarket and AngelList will dual-list the companies, which are vetted and handpicked for the following qualities:

    • Easy-to-understand business model
    • Already backed by well-known investors
    • Have great advisors
    • Willing to be transparent with numbers

Five undisclosed startups are already on the platform and receiving investments, two of which have already filled their rounds.

SecondMarket demonstrated at FinovateStartup 2009 in San Francisco.

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Finovate Alumni News– December 20, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Billhighway, Cardlytics, Dwolla, PayPal, Simple, SoMoLend, TradeKing, Vermilian

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  • Cardlytics platform deployed by America FCU to provide targeted rewards to its members.
  • Vermilian’s bancapp technology to power EECU’s mobile banking and marketing smartphone app.
  • Dwolla promotes its platform by giving $10 in waived transaction fees for every friend you refer through the end of the year.
  • Xconomy looks at what SoMoLend discussed at the recent New York Enterprise Technology meetup.
  • Bank Innovation takes a look at what PayPal’s P2P for Financial Institutions means for the payments world.
  • AppShopper highlights a new app from Billhighway, Give, now available for the iPhone.
  • Netbanker looks at how Simple makes banking interesting.
  • Merger mechanics continue as Zecco accounts move to TradeKing.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Swipely Expands Payment Acceptance Platform for Local Merchants

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Swipely

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Payment acceptance and rewards platform, Swipely, announced its Winter 2013 release this week.

The release brings three main upgrades:

1) Swipely’s CRM tool automatically updates a customer’s information each time they pay using a credit card. The tool creates a profile for credit-paying customers that details total money spent, number of transactions, average spend, and the customer’s lifetime value.

SwipelyCRM.jpg

2) Tablet-optimized merchant dashboard that now includes:

      • Simpler to use platform
      • Analytics on a store-by-store basis or in aggregate for retailers with multiple locations
      • Heat Map that indicates sales performance by hour
      • Daily Journal that shows merchants how weather, Facebook posts, and other factors impact buying patterns
SwipelyAnalytics.jpg

3) Expanded support of POS middleware solutions, including:

    • Breadcrumb
    • Comcash
    • Dinerware
    • First Data
    • Focus
    • Isis POS
    • PC Charge 
    • Authorize.net
    • Many others

The Rhode Island-based company has already upgraded existing merchants to the new release, and interested merchants will be upgraded with no extra cost.

In addition, Swipely informed me that it recently crossed the threshold of a quarter billion dollars in processing.

To learn more about Swipely, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.

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